Jotary drier



R. R. H|CKCOX..

ROTARY DRIER.

APPLlcATloyg FILED MAR. 31. 1911.

Patented Oct. 21,1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

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'ROTARY DRI'ER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31. 19.17.

Patented Oct. 21,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 R. R. HiCKCOX.-

I ROTARY DR IERP APPLICATION FILED MAR- 31119l7.

1 3 1 9 ,077 I Patented Oct. 21,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEEP a.

UNiTp S ROTARY DRIER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that L'RoY R. HICKCOX, a citizen of the United States,residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in R0- tary Driers. of which the following is aspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to an improvement in rotary driers, and moreparticularly driers of the character disclosed in United I StatesLetters Patent No. 1150302 issued to myself and one Villiam T. Perkinson August 11', 1915.

lVith the construction illustrated in the aforementioned patent it wasnecessary to receive the lithographed plates in the drying of which thepresent invention more particularly appertains. and cause them to tiltfrom their received posit-ionwith the printed faces of the platesforemost and thereafter to tilt the plates onto the next adjacentcarrier or support.

It has been found that plates which are so treated will often becomedamaged by having the wet or unset faces brought into contact with thewire supports and thus practically deface many of the plates.

The present invention is designed so that the plates will be maintainedalways with their wet or printed face outward througlr out the entirecircuit of movement, thus preventing the unset printing material frombeing marred or disfigured by coming in contact withthe supportingsurfaces.

In carrying out the above suggested object certain structural featuresof the machine are employed and primarily the plates are positioned inan order reverse from that shown in the above mentioned patent, that isto say, the wet or printed'sides of the plates are backwardly disposedon the upper run of the drier and are maintained against the samesupport or frame throughout the movement to the point of discharge.\Vhile a special construction has been shown, the parts being somewhatdiagrammatically illustrated, as such parts are well known in the art,it is to be understood that many of the details and special arrangementsmay be changed and modified as the invention comprehends broadly theconception of means for maintaining the plates during their course oftravel on an endless carrier with their printed faces out of contactwith any parts of the machine. The term end- Specification of LettersPatent.

less carrier is employed herein to designate that'type of machinewherein the material to be dried is carried forward on one course of thecarrier and backward on the lower or other course of the carrier so thatthe drier as a whole is compact, thus avoiding the necessity of longdrying chambers as has been heretofore proposedin this art.

An embodiment of the machine intended for these specifications anddesigned for those skilled in this art is depicted in the accompanyingdrawings wherein,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, somewhat diagrammatic, inasmuch asvarious known parts are omitted and showing certam parts in elevation;

Fig. 9. is a section taken through a central port on of the machine;

F 1g. 3 is a perspective view of the carrier and its driving wheelsshowing parts in section;

Fig. i is a detail View of one of the rocking supports for a. carryingframeh'1g. 5 is a detail perspective view of a pintle support;

Fig. 6 1s a fragmentary elevation of the upper portion of a plurality offrames with the retaining gate;

7 is a top plan of the same;

Fig. 8 is a similarview of the position of the parts on the under runand showing in dogted lines the final position of the gate, an

Fig. 9 is a detail section of the connection between a. gate and one ofthe cross bars of the frame. i

The drying chamber A may be provided with any means for supplying heatthereto, and has mounted, therein, at opposite ends, toothed drums Bcarried on transverse shafts C. Power can be applied to one of theshafts for driving purposes. "The drums are spaced apart andconveniently two sets are arranged side by side so that two carriers canbe operated in the same drying chamber. This, however, is subject tovariations according to the amount of work required to be done. Eachchain D is pro vided with a pintle member E held against rotation in theconventional manner by ,hav- -ing a squared end. The heads of the pinsare provided with elongated slots 6, tapered toward the center, as shownin Fig.4, and in these slots the ends of the carrying frames F aresecured for swinging movement. The

Y Patented Oct. 21, 1919. Application filed March 31, 1917. Serial No.158,906. 1

ends of the frame'F may be provided, with washers, pins or disks, asshown at 6' arranged above and below the head for the while the adjacentend terminates substantially in the plane of the lower part of the slotof the pintle head E. The opposite ends of the adjacent frames areelongated in thls particular, namely so that one frame will have aprojection at one end below the pivotal support while the other willhave the projection at the opposite end and so on alternating forpurposespresently to be stated. The mounting of the frames in theelongated slots is such that'the frames will have a pivotal actionequally on each side in a vertical plane so that the frames'may beinclined in the direction of the movement of the belts or chains both intheir upper.

run and return run, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1.

Mounted ousuitable standards G. G are cams H, H. T hese. cams arepositioned in the path of the projecting ends of the travel ing frames,as shown in Figs. 1 and8, and are conveniently arranged adjacent theouter faces of each drum, as shown in Fig. 2. As the belt is driven theprojecting ends f of the frames engage first with the cam H.

which being stationary moves the-frame for ward to the position shown inFig. 1, in Which position it is held untilit reaches the end of theupper course of travel. As the frames reach the bend at the outer endthe arms will normally tend to maintain the forward inclination untilthey reach sub-' stantially the perpendicular and traveling rearward onthe under, course will have a normal tendency to maintain aperpendicular position until they encounter a fixed track member I alongthe upper surface of which the arms trail. By this means they areinclined toward the rear end of the machine in a manner similar to theinclination they assume on the upper run of the belts or chains. As theprojecting ends of the arms approach the cams H, which as stated arestationary. the frames are moved on their pivots and thrown upwardrapidly to increase the space between adjacent frames, as clearly shownin Fig. 1. They are then allowed to remain in different positions untilthey reach the cam H when they are forcibly tilted to the forwardposition, as shown'in Fig. 1. J represents a feed belt having suitableflights and X indicates, in

' meut.

relative dotted lines, th printed or lithographed plates that arecarried upthe bel J and are projected against an inclined conductingsurface K.

A continued movement of the belt results in the deposit of the plate Xonto the inclined guide and from thence it by gravity moves down withthe printed surface uppermost and rests on th rear sides of theforwardly inclined frames F, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. In thisposition they are retained throughout, the entire operation of thecarrier.

To prevent the their position on the frames, it has been foundconvenient. to add certain suitable hooks or devices for extending overthe outer edges of the plates. These hooks or retaining devices take theform of metal plat-es L of a length conveniently to extend between twoadjacent plate carrying spaces, that is to'say over one frame past theadjacent advancing frame and to a point approximating the end of thenext adjacent frame, as shown in Fig. 6. The plates L have a portion ofbox formation, the outer ends being shaped to form a bearing to embracea. horizontal portion of the frame F. T he plate is loosely held forpivotal movement on the frame bar' by a clip member Z and is permitted alimited movement substantially a one quarter movement around the frameand having formed in its bearing portion an elongated slot Z in which asuitable pin Z? is placed, as shown more clearly in Fig. 9. By thisarrangement the gateor plate stop device is permitted a movement fromthat substantially as shown in Fig. 6 to that of a-perpendicular asshown in Fig. 8, dotted lines. The upper portion of the gate is carriedforward and thence downward as at L, so that in efi'eet there isprovided'an interposed stop preventing the frame immediately forward ofthe gate carrying frame from being accidentally tilted backward duringits move- On the top of the upper portion of the gate there is providedasliding hook member M. the same being confined to longitudinal movementby overhanging lips m on the gate member. The hook M is normallyretracted through the instrumentality of a coiled spring 0, the samebeing conveniently connected to a projecting part of the clip Z and to apin or projection on the shank of the hook Bl. To limit the forward oroutward movement of the hook a small detent m is provided, as shown inFig. 9, the same working in a slot in the guide plate. The hook M has apoint or bill m bent backward and outward a distance slightly below theplane of the upper bar of the adjacent frame and is engaged by said barduring the turning movement of the frames around the ad vancing drum. Asthe frames tend to separate the coiled spring (E permits the hook toplates from escaping from slide outward and thus form a complete barrieragainst the escape of thcplates riding on the face ofthe frames;

In Fig. 1 there isshown five of the hooks but it is to be understoodthat each frame is to be provided with a hook or gate. They have beenomitted from the drawings for the sake of clearness. The gates areconveniently so positioned on the frame that the advancing gate will beoffset slightly laterally from the precedingor succeeding gate, as shownin Fig.3. This enables me to provide each frame with pivoted gate orplate confining members and also results in the maintenance of theproper inclination of the frames during the commencement of the undercourse run thereof. The relative spreading of the frame members withrela tion to each other is gradually taken up until the frames reach therails I and when in that position the gate members will be substantiallyas shown in F ig. 8, the spring 0 having been contracted and the hooks mhaving been projected beyond the adjacent frame member with which it hadpreviously engaged during the turning movement. The lithographed orprinted plates in the under run will engage the plate Land ride thereonthroughout the entire under run or'return movement. of the carrier. Asthe frame reaches the end of the track I the preceding frame will besubstantially vertical until the projecting'inner end thereof comes intoengagement with the cam H. It is then forcibly rocked forward from underthe proj ecting end of plate L, which plate and the hook verticalposition, as shown in Fig. 1 diagrammatically and in Fig. 8 in dottedlines. This permits the lithograph plate to. fall quickly and in itsfalling it will engage a rapidly running belt P which belt is driven inthe direction of the arrow, catching the lower edge of the printed platefirst and causing the plate to be deposited flatwise with the printedsurface upward on the belt P. From the beltP the printed plate X istaken in any desired manner to a place of.

storage.

From the above description of the mechanism and its operation it will bereadily appreciated that the lithographed plates while in a wet stateare deposited into the drier automatically, printed face uppermost, arereceived by the forwardly inclined frames, carried forward thence aroundthe outer drums and are maintained against the' same side of thecarrying frame during its circular or return movement until the platesare released again at the forward end of the drier. The operation issimple and through the hook 01' gate mechanism is rendered exceedinglyaccurate.

It is to be understood, however, that other forms of gates or hooks canbe employed portion will immediately fall into aif desired and variousother modifications can be made. I do not wish to be limited to theswinging pivot or hook member or gate devices as any retaining meansassociated with the outer end of the frames may be employed, theunderlying principle of the invention being that of always maintainingthe wet plates with their faces out of contact with the supports orframes. By alternating the positions of the extended end. parts of theframe 7, it has been found that at the turning point at the feeding endof the machine when these wire frames are closely positioned on theelongated belts the avoided by having the projections alternating asdescribed for engagement with the cams. It has been found convenient tobend the central portion of the carrying frames F downward in V-shape sothat the thin metal lithographed plates will find backing between theextreme ends. These plates are usually eighteen inches wide to twentyeight or thirty inches long, varying somewhat according to the stockprinted.

Having thus described the invention, that which is claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the class specified the combination with an endlesscarrier having a series of pivoted carrying frames, means whereby platesare deposited on the frame in edge standing position, and means for re-'ta-ining the plates in edge standing position on the same frames duringthe return movement of the carrier.

1 3. In a drier of the ClZISS SPBOIfiGd the combination with an endlesscarrier having a series of pivoted carrying frames, means whereby platesare deposited in'position at a vertical inclination to the direction' oftravel of the carrier on the rear of the frames, and means for retainingthe plates in position on the rear of the frames throughout the forwardand rearward movement of the carrier.

4. In a drier of the character described the combination with, anendless carrier provided witha series of pivoted carrying frames, meansfor positively causing the frame to assume a forwardly inclined platevertical inclinaholding position at a vertical inclination to thedirection of travel of the carrier, and means for causing the frame toassume a plate holding inclination on the return movement thereof, andmeans for retaining the plates in position on the same frames during thereturn movement of' the carrier.

In a' drier of the character described the combination with an endlesscarrier, of a series of pivoted supporting frames thereon, and pivotedmeans between the frames for preventing the escape of the articles to bedried from the frame during the return movement of the frame.

(tin a device of the class described the combination with 'an endlesscarrier of a series of plate-carrying frames,'said platecarrying framesbeing pivotally cdnnected to the carrier and equipped with means wherebyeach of said frames will support a plate in outstanding positionrelatively to the planes of travel of the carrier throughout the forwardand rearward movement of the carrier.

7. In a drier of the character described the combination with an endlesscarrier, of a series of pivoted supporting fran es thereon, and pivotedgates between the frames at their outer ends.

8. In a drier of the character described the combination with anendlesscarrier, of a series of pivoted frames thereon, and spring controlledhooks extending from one frame to the other, substantially as described.

. 9. In a drier of the character described the combination with anendless carrier, of I between the frames.

10.111 a drier of the character described the combination with anendless carrier, of pivoted supporting frames thereon, piv otallysupported means for confining the article to be dried between adjacentframes, and means for causing the frames to maintain a supportinginclination both in its outward and inward movement.

11. The invention defined in claim 10 and characterized by suchconfining means beingprovided With a spring operated book.

12. The device of the character described in claim 10 with means forseparating the frames at the finish of the carrying travel thereof.

13. The invention defined in claim 10 with means for separating theframes, and means for causing the frames to approach each other.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of awitness.

=RQY R. HICKCOX.

' Witness L. S. BACON

